volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
@samlitzinger@journa.host There was a time when we talked about building up instead of tearing down...
I think that philosophy is probably more healthy.
@cdonat but ATProtocol is simply more focused on digital sovereignty, regardless of where it was developed.
The two protocols are very different, and that has nothing to do with Europe versus US. AT in many ways is simply better.
The problem is that half the country literally doesn't recognize, factually, what he's doing. Half of the pop media reports the opposite of what's actually going on.
It's hard to get people to call for his removal from office over his behavior when half of the country isn't informed about what his behavior actually is.
@OneEyeKing No it's not that they are distracted, it's that they are misinformed.
They are very focused, it's just that the thing they are focused on is a lie.
This is a crucial difference.
@OneEyeKing I think it's important to emphasize that a lot of folks aren't so much voting over values as they are voting over their particular set of facts that don't necessarily match the real world.
In analogy, you and I can both agree in terms of values that we should dress to be comfortable, but we're going to dress very differently if you believe the middle of a scorching summer while I believe we're in the depth of winter. Agreement in values, of fact.
THAT is what I would say is the reason we are here as a nation. Different groups have completely different sets of facts that they are working with, and we no longer have institutions able to sort out what is true.
People spend so much time addressing values that are actually shared without realizing the real dispute is over fact. So they talk past the actual problems.
volkris
boosted
From conservative talk shows last week, referring to Cheney's opposition to #Trump: #DickCheney did do some good stuff before he turned into a far leftist in the end. #USPolitics
Today #Trump supporters are crowing about how he keeps winning over every court that comes after him, he's a force of nature that no one can land a hand on, because he's just so awesome, and a rebuke against politicized use of the courts.
Trump keeps winning!
Meanwhile, outside of that uninformed echo chamber...
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/11/26/donald-trump-penalty-lawsuit-hillary-clinton-00669616
The controversy surrounding the Senators' ad regarding illegal military orders really distills the state of US politics at the moment.
For example, mainstream conservative influencers are treating the ad as if it really was speaking directly to soldiers, as they are so unsophisticated that they take a political spot at face value.
This kindergarten level of naivety drives so much of the political discourse shaping US politics in this era, and helps shield #Trump from accountability.
Unfortunately, this gets into the thorny question of whether something is a lie if the speaker really believes it.
The #Trump admin actually believes a lot of things that are factually wrong. Courts have trouble addressing such situations as they're supposed to be arbitrators of law, not of fact, so they're generally supposed to judge based on the record that's put before them.
It says a lot that these days have reenergized debates among legal scholars as to when factual errors are so egregious that a court has to call them out.
@bweller Well, where exactly do you think I got something wrong? Perhaps you misunderstood something, and I'm happy to clarify, or I'm happy to cite sources and lay out my perspective.
Or, you could always correct something that I have wrong by providing your own sources.
Let's build up, not tear down. No good comes from that.
@GhostOnTheHalfShell I don't think it's that they are being treated like garbage. It's more that they feel entitled, and they get upset when they don't get their way.
MTG is part of a minority in the House who think that they should be getting their way all the time, but that's not how it works. When Johnson tries to explain math to them, they throw fits.
MTG seems to have quit because it just wasn't fun anymore, she wasn't getting her way like she thought she would be. Well, unfortunately Republicans acting that way are a significant contributor to the dysfunction in Congress.
Johnson has the job of trying to satisfy them while still running the chamber.
@Yoshi What he said was that we could use this distributed generation to quickly add extra energy production when supply was lagging.
It's an extremely reasonable approach, and one that so many have been calling for for years.
@cdarwin turns out his employer wasn't actually interested in cutting spending, so seeing the futility of the effort, he gave up.
If you read Citizens United, the perspective captured in this piece is completely wrong about what it actually said. And a whole lot of people are! The reporting on what the ruling actually said has been really terrible over the years, sensationalized and politicized really.
And so this article reflects a movement to fix a problem that doesn't actually exist.
And that's a shame, but it needs to be called out to prevent people wasting time from tilting at windmills when there are real problems to address.
@OneEyeKing meh, the subset of his voters that think he is orange Jesus would believe it either way.
If Harris was president they would all be griping about how much better things would be if Trump had won, and probably be real annoying about conspiracy theories that stole the election from him.
But a whole lot of Trump's constituents don't actually think he's Jesus. They just thought as crappy as he is, they didn't think Harris was better.
@strypey sure, and when you talk about social networking that is a quick jump to emphasizing the need for web of trust techniques to solidify the networks 🙂
@lexinova the USA ruled this years ago...
@gatewaypundit_official Mark Kelly did not urge military sedition.
The headline is patently false
@reay Well they have been mentioning that X revealed that a lot of anti-MAGA influencers are from foreign countries.
They also say that DOGE resulted in identifying significant savings in the federal government.
I don't have a dog in the fight, but just saying that's what the other echo chamber is reporting.
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
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